Blood Type
by phantom and potter Obsession
Summary: When Tart is badly injured in an accident, Kish and Pai replace his blood with Mew Lettuce's. The consequences are drastic: Kish and Pai begin a mission to kill Tart, while the youngest alien himself finds himself falling hopelessly in love with Pudding..
1. Beginning

Disclaimer: You know what? I only three-quarters own this idea! My sister owns the other half, from our role plays! So If I don't even own the entire idea behind this, what makes you think I own Tokyo Mew Mew? Hm?

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"Ow!" Tart wailed, staring in shock at his side. Blood welled out of the ghastly wound, spilling down his leg and onto the floor. The young alien pulled the scissors from his side, which had the negative effect of allowing more blood to leave his body and stain the tiles. Dizzy with pain, the boy sank to the coppery, wet ground. "Kish, Pai! He—" the alien passed out as agony and blood lost overwhelmed him.

"Tart!" Kish and Pai came hurtling from opposite ends of the ship to their fallen comrade, having heard his screams. Pai took one look at him and forgot the origami paper he was trying to make out of notebook paper. "We need to get him to the medical center," Pai assessed. The eldest alien lifted up his younger friend and teleported him to the hospital wing of the ship. Kish, normally so playful and demented, followed with an air of concern.

"Shiza!" Pai yelped, beginning to curse in German. Finally he explained to the confused Kish, "We're out of type O blood."

"How does that happen?" Kish asked, aghast. "O's the universal donor!" The emerald haired alien brooded over the problem for a moment. "Well, who do we know with type O blood?"

"Let me see…" Pai turned to the computer and accessed his database. "Mew Lettuce," he said finally. "That's it. But—"

"Okay!" Kish cut him off, seizing a blood-donating syringe. "Close up the wound, I'll be right back!"

"Wait!" Pai cried, but Kish had already shot down to the planet. Pai could think of several reasons not to use Lettuce's blood, but he knew Tart would die without it. The purple haired alien shook his head and began to sew the deep puncture back together. "You baka," the eldest alien told his companion. "I hope that'll teach you your lesson about running with scissors."

Tart's even paler than usual—which is nearly impossible!—face contorted. He looked dried out, the offending blood-encrusted scissors still clutched in his hand. The half-conscious boy moaned in pain as Pai stitched the skin back together. "Sorry," Pai whispered, "but it has to close, or you'll die!" The oldest of the three shipmates refrained from mentioning that the odds were good that time had run out for Tart anyway.

Finally Pai finished sewing and plastered a bandage to Tart's side, all the while trying to remember why he'd even needed the scissors in the first place. Something to do with origami, wasn't it? How stupid! And why, why, _why _had he sent Tart to get them, the one who lacked all semblance of common sense? He _knew _that Tart + Sharp Objects Catastrophe! That was why Tart didn't have any sharp edges on his weapon!

And where was Kish? Really, how long did it take to get a simple blood donation?

000ooo000ooo000ooo000

Lettuce was asleep over her algebra homework, papers scattered all over her desk. Oh come on, the quadratic formula will put anyone to sleep! And she hadn't even had Mrs. Bateman to teach her the oh-so-useful quadratic formula song. This was quite possibly because Mrs. Bateman taught in America…

Kish stared at the work, then at the sleeping mew. "How can you not get it?" he wondered aloud. Shrugging, the alien sat down to do the girls homework, singing the song so that _he _didn't forget the formula. "X is equal to negative three, plus-or-minus the square…root! Of B squared mi-nus four… A-C! Divided! By…y two-A!"

Twelve problems and five minutes Later Kish had finished the work. Okay, enough crap. Tart was dying, he needed blood really badly, and here Kish sat doing _algebra? _What kind of friend did that?

Lettuce opened her eyes to see Kish looming over her. "AAAAAAHHHH!" she shrieked, breaking records for the highest note ever hit. "You baka! You're stalking _Ichigo, _not _me!_"

"Calm down!" Kish hissed. "I just need your blood, that's all!"

"Get away from me!" shrilled Lettuce, slapping Kish as he plunged the ginormous syringe into her arm and extracted at _least _a quart of blood from her arm. She felt woozy and sickened seeing the red liquid leave her body. She was a seasoned fighter, but Lettuce Midorikawa still _hated _the sight of blood.

The porpoise mew yelped in surprise and stumbled backwards and Kish teleported away. She had just had a _lot_ of blood forcibly taken from her! That plus her 56 percent in Algebra served to make her _quite _upset. _WHY _had Kish needed her blood? It didn't make much sense.

Whatever the reason was, she needed sympathy. Ryou and Keiichiro probably should know about the incident. She really wanted her crush. There was only one solution for the problem: she called Ryou.

"Wah! Shirogane-san!" she wailed without preamble when her boss answered the phone.

"Lettuce! What's wrong?" Ryou asked concernedly. "Did something happen?"

"Yeah, Kish just randomly appeared and took a _lot _of blood from me! I don't know what he needed it for, he just said he did need it, and now I feel really sick!" Lettuce spilled out, half-sobbing.

"Blood loss," mused Ryou. "I wonder what they needed the blood for. Hm…" an idea struck the man. "I know this is bad, but if I'm right we can make it work to our advantage. Right now you should get to the hospital though, get your blood replaced. I'll come out and drive you."


	2. Complications

**Disclaimer: I'm now writing my own manga! Why do I need to own Tokyo Mew Mew?**

**Omnipotent Narrator: -sneaks over from Come What May- MY EYES!**

**Authoress: My art's gotten better! I feel insulted! Hey—what are you doing here? I wasn't going to use you in another fic!!!!**

**ON: You use me when you're hyper. You're high off reading those KishxPai's. Traitor to the KishxIchigo fandom!**

**Authoress: I am NOT!!! I needed something to do while I tried to load that damn song!**

**ON: You could have started this earlier…**

**Authoress: But then you'd be sad because you'd be confined to a single fic…**

**ON: Yeah, whatever Kimberley.**

**Authoress: To clear the use of the name up, I call myself Mina when I feel sadistic, Tora when I feel emo, Sadie when I feel average, Aline when I feel like a fangirl, and Kimberley when I feel nerdy. I feel nerdy/sadistic now… -shows ON her manga again-**

**ON: MY EYES!!! Folks, if she owned TMM, you wouldn't be able to see!**

**Authoress/Kimberley: It was the rough draft for Christ's sake!**

**ON: You're going to get flamed for this long disclaimer, I know it. Reviewers may tell Kimberley if you hate the long conversations with me in them.**

**Kimberley: HaHA! I did it again! You haven't cut off my uberlong disclaimer yet!**

**ON: NOOOOOOO!!! –gags Kimberley and shackles her to a board… in Pai's torture chamber of Mina's evil and sadistic imagination… oh no…-**

**Kimberley: On with the fic! I'm quite pleased with this chapter… it's in first person, Tart's point of view. Most of the chapters from here on are. **

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I opened my eyes as Kish injected what appeared to be a blood transfusion into my arm. I was very woozy from the accident, but hey, no biggie—I was alive. Count your blessings. "Why'd it take so long?" I croaked groggily. For the past hour I'd been drifting in and out of consciousness, which is no fun in case you were wondering.

I'm Taruto Kuromizu, Tart to most people, for some reason I'm Tar-tar or

Taru-taru to my arch-nemesis, Pudding Fong, and I'm Naruto to Kish when he's mad at me—he knows I can't stand that show. Being _called _Naruto does nothing to help that dumb anime's status on my likes and dislikes list. I'm only a ten-year-old cyniclon, but I'm already in the military. How messed up is that? I mean, whatever happened to child labor laws?

Well anyway, that's off subject. ON subject, the looks on Kish and Pai's faces weren't really that encouraging. It was unnerving, especially because, well, Pai is Pai. When the emotionless Pai looks regretful and it's directed at _you_, you'd better be scared. _Really _scared. It undoubtedly means that huge, evilly bad things are happening. Whoopee.

"Tart… I'm really sorry…" Oh no. It was _Kish _who was sorry? It meant that certainly terrible things had happened to me! Kish was my best friend and all, but I can't pretend he was the most careful of people—look at the way he screwed up with Ichigo! Would I look down to find my leg amputated or all the blood I'd just received bloating up my large intestine?

I glanced down at myself, and no, that was not the case. In fact, I couldn't see anything wrong. "Hey! What did you all do that took so long?" I asked impatiently, half dreading the answer.

"We were out of type O blood…" Pai looked reluctant to continue.

To be frank, I didn't really care if Pai wanted to tell me what he had messed up, because he sure was going to! "You teleport down to the planet, get some blood, and teleport up! That doesn't take an hour!" I yelled, unforgiving, pounding my fists on the soft mattress of the bed in the hospital part of the ship.

"Well, the only person we know with that blood type was Lettuce Midorikawa—"

"Who?" I interrupted. I'm really bad with first names in the first place, and last names are _really _hard for me. Forget telling me your middle name; no chance I'll remember it. Who wants to remember human names anyway? What a waste of time!

Even knowing that, Pai rolled his eyes as though I hadn't known the name of our dying home world. Which, for the record, is 'Land.' Hey—c'mon, I didn't name it! Besides, is 'Land' _really _much less imaginative than 'Earth?' Is it?

But back to Pai. He looked at me as though there was no greater existing idiot. This idea is disproved by the existence of Kish, who'd kill me if I said that to his face. "Mew Lettuce," Pai told me in a slow clear voice. "The green mew mew."

"Oh. That one." I still didn't get what was wrong, but my gut instinct told me nothing good could come next.

Before Pai's mouth could open, the answer hit me like a ton of bricks. Thus, it was a real shock. "Ne Pai, you _did _get the animal DNA out, right?" I asked. Please, please…

The look on my friend's face answered that. "No!" I wailed, distraught. "No, this doesn't happen! I have _dolphin _DNA now?"

"That's not the worst of it," Pai answered grimly, making me feel _loads _better. "If the intelligence of their side discovers this, they will be able to manipulate your actions using their own samples of Mew Lettuce's blood, and force you to obey their will. Our enemies could even force you to fight against us."

"And you still did this to me!" I wasn't happy, to say the least. Not happy at all!

"Hey, it was this or your life! And come to think of it, your life's _still _in danger!" Kish began to fly around in tight little circles, agitated.

"How—"

"We haven't contacted Deep Blue Sama about this little incident yet," Pai answered apprehensively.

Dread coiled in my gut as I realized what he meant. Deep Blue hadn't exactly shown himself to be so loving and caring. Helloooo, he'd told us to leave Kish to die, when Kish was fighting so hard for his cause! I knew I was just a tool to our 'grand leader.' He'd probably have me 'eliminated' just to simplify the mission, you know, as a precaution. It made smart, strategic, military sense. Except that it was referring to me. I had a hard time stomaching that.

"Do we have to tell him?" I whispered, even though I knew the answer. After all, Pai was a rule follower, and he always had been. I knew that if Deep Blue told Pai to kill me, he would, and Kish wouldn't do anything to stop him. One of my friends would kill me, and while the other wouldn't help, he sure wouldn't stop him! What did I do to deserve this? Brilliant!

A blue light replaced the hospital, and I knew that Pai had summoned our leader. The familiar glow seemed to stifle me. A visit from our savior was never really welcome in my opinion. Especially now, when I'd probably be _killed_. Couldn't Pai have waited to tell him? You know, until I had time to hide in Moscow or somewhere and change my identity?

"Master Deep Blue Sama." We all sank to our knees, me included. All the while though, I was thinking about how being on your knees was an incredibly vulnerable position. Really, do powerful people _plan _it so that their underlings are entirely helpless if they get pissed off and violent? Hm… yeah, probably.

"What is it Pai?" Deep Blue has what is said to be a mysterious voice. Personally, I think it's just girly, but I mentioned that to Pai once and got in serious trouble. But anyway, for some reason that was running through my head now. Why were we listening to this girly spirit person? I mean, come on! What had he ever done for us? Oh yeah, he had all his wonderful, glorious promises of a re-born Earth—really. The geek wasn't showing any signs of awakening any time soon! So then, why the heck did we listen to the loser? Hm?

"Deep Blue Sama, Taruto injured himself, and we had to replace his blood. Unfortunately, the blood we used belonged to a mew mew," Pai explained. There were no excuses; there was no long story. Deep Blue wouldn't be interested.

"Is that so?" I flinched at the cold mercilessness of that high voice. Deep Blue was a being whom had never felt pity. "Well then, keeping him alive will only complicate things." My breath stopped as he said that. No, please… I was only ten… "Kill him."


	3. Puppet

**Disclaimer: If I owned TMM, I'd have made them put in more PuddingxTartness, and the series wouldn't be over yet, because I'd be writing about 50 mangas of back-story per character! (I want the back-story. GIVE ME BACK-STORY!!!)**

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"Kill him."

"Nuh—" I was gripped with a nearly paralyzing fear at the expected sound of those two words. I stumbled backwards, my breathing fast and shallow. Hyperventilating, I think it's called? Is that right? Whatever it's called, it's how you normally breathe when you're scared to death. Ten wasn't old enough to die! It's not just! "No, no, no—"

Without warning, without even trying too, I teleported.

That had never happened to me before. I guessed the mews had figured things out, and they couldn't have picked a better time—but come on, how sad is it when I'm relieved to be caught by my worst enemies? You have to admit, that's pretty sad.

Well, enough thinking about how sad it was. I was in a really bad situation. And I was in… a really pink room? What the heck? Tokyo Mew Mew had painted their headquarters _pink?_ I swore at that minute that I'd never complain about our meeting place's green walls again. That's if I ever _saw _those tacky walls again.

"Wow… Keiichiro was right for once," a young, blonde haired man commented, looking slightly shocked. He was about Kish's age, and seemed a little bit like him, although maybe a little more tactful. Then again, what do I know about humans?

"Shut up Ryou, I'm almost always right. Besides, you have to admit it made perfect sense. Why else would they need her blood?" a man with a long brown ponytail answered. Wow… could he have rivaled Deep Blue for girlyness or what?

"Um, may I go now?" I asked. Okay, so they saved my life, but I wasn't too thrilled to be here, despite the circumstances. I'd kind of set my heart on hiding somewhere else. Moscow, perhaps. I had always liked the idea of Moscow.

"Tar-tar Tar-tar!" Oh no. _She _was here.

Suddenly I couldn't breathe, because a sugar high wearing yellow and orange had grabbed me around the waist and was turning in circles with me. "It's Tar-tar Tar-tar Tar-tar TAR-TAR!"

"Get—off—me—" I wheezed, trying to push the dead weight away. I'm strong for my size and all, but so is she, and she's taller than me—don't you _dare _say a word about it or I'll feed you to an army of angry Chihuahuas. It's all genetic! It's not _my _fault I'm short, I tell you!

Pudding let go of my waist, grabbed my hand, and started skipping in circles, dragging me. "Hey! What is your _problem?" _I demanded, pulling away and flying out of reach. I hoped they wouldn't notice the tinge of blush spreading across my face—why is it when you're embarrassed your body reacts by doing something that'll just embarrass you more? That's messed up! I mean, who wouldn't be embarrassed when a cute girl like Pudding hugged them? And who'd want her to know? I curse the natural ways of the world. _Curse you!_

"Is Tart really on our side now?" the blue girl sipping tea—Mint, right? Yeah, I think it's Mint—asked the two older men.

Long-haired guy shook his head. "No, not of his own free will. But we can make him fight for us now, and we'll just have to take what we can get."

So Pai had been right. I _was _dangerous, because if I couldn't exercise my free will, I would just be a little puppet in this battle, destroying my people. It made my insides twist.

"See, look! Like this." The blonde kid grinned evilly and typed something into the computer. My limbs began to jerk, and then I was cartwheeling uncontrollably around the large room. I can't even _do _a cartwheel!

"Hey! Stop it!" I yelled, fruitlessly trying to stop my progress. This was a nightmare! I jerked to a halt a few seconds later, thank God.

"Hm. Interesting," the two males murmured in unison. The two looked at each other and cracked up.

"This is to our advantage," girly-foppy man declared. "Take the rest of the day off you five. We'll have this all figured out by tomorrow." I didn't really like that tone. Oh great.

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"Leave him," ordered Deep Blue, his voice calm, as though he had known what would happen. "He doesn't pose a significant threat on his own. You may find him later."

"Hai, Deep Blue Sama," Pai agreed. "I will begin to formulate an attack plan to destroy the mews. If they are dead, they can't control him. If we cannot kill them, I will kill him myself."

"Good," Deep Blue answered, his high monotone sounding as careless as usual. "I expect results this time." The blue light faded, leaving Kish and Pai alone in the hospital room.

"I'm glad Tart got away," Kish commented. "What?" he asked as Pai shot him a glare. "It's not _his _fault we messed up!"

"_You _messed up," Pai corrected him. "It's too late now. Unless we destroy all the mews and their leaders, we will have to kill him. It will be easier to simply eliminate Tart than take out all seven on the mew side."

"But he's our—"

"Kisshu!" Pai glared at his friend. "Silence. Deep Blue has the best interests of our race at heart. If that means sacrificing _one _person, then so be it. If Tart remains a danger, we may all end up dead."

"So what do we do?" Kish asked, shoulders slumping in defeat. He knew Pai made perfect, logical sense. Curse perfect logical sense.

"Well, I have a short term plan and a long term plan. Here's what we have to do…"


	4. Fluff

**Disclaimer: I don't even own a life… what makes anyone think I own Tokyo Mew Mew? It belongs to Mia Ikumi and co, don't sue me! I also don't own the song 'Promiscuous', it's just so ooc that I had to use it!**

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"We'll have this all figured out be tomorrow," the brunette determined.

"Akasaka oniichan, can I stay here with you all and Taru-taru na no da?" Pudding asked cheerfully.

God, please no. Pudding couldn't stay here! She'd drive me insane with her incessant chattering and hugs! Nuts! Crazy! Bonkers! Psycho! Wacko! Mad! Cracked! Whatever else you can say for insane! Have I made my point God? She couldn't stay here!

"Certainly Pudding," Mr. Ugly-girly-fop-man—Akasaka? —agreed. Great…

"Hm…" The blonde man appeared to be thinking. He grinned, and keyed something into his laptop. I began to walk over to Pudding—see? _Walk! _I never walk! That's how you know it was him doing this, not me! I almost always fly! Besides, I'd never willingly go anywhere near the walking sugar rush—I hate her!

Anyway, I walked towards Pudding, all my struggles made futile by this cursed blood, and enveloped her in a hug. I was aware of the blond guy snickering in the background, and much to my embarrassment, I was blushing. Have I mentioned how much I hate blushing? And it didn't get better when my nemesis returned the hug. I swear, that girl needs to be careful or she'll break all my ribs.

"Ryou, be serious," chided Akasaka. "This is a delicate matter. We don't want to mess this up."

"You're right," Ryou admitted, a shadow crossing his face. "Don't tell _me _that this is serious, remember?"

"Yes, I know," Akasaka sighed. "Now, because you remember that this is important, see if you can get him to call his attack and attack the chair."

I felt an urge to summon my Ho Rai Den attack, but I gritted me teeth and resisted. My blood started to burn, and it was all I could do too keep from screaming—but maybe, if I could control this, Deep Blue wouldn't kill me. If I could fight off their orders—

The pressure in my veins stopped suddenly. I realized I was shaking, and sat down. Fortunately there was no lack of chairs. Pudding looked worried, and the two older men were discussing something quietly amongst themselves.

Akasaka threw Ryou a disgusted look and typed something into the computer again. My mind slid out of focus—only looking back on things did I remember anything. I pulled my Ho Rai Den out of the air and cried 'Ho Rai Kyuu!" Electricity flew out of the weapon and hit the chair, splintering it in all its pink and white heartness.

"Awesome! Once again, I am right." Akasaka's voice dimly penetrated the fog around my brain, but in my state of unawares, I didn't comprehend the meaning of the words.

"Shut up Keiichiro. What now?"

"Well… I'm going to pretend to attack Pudding. Make him protect her."

I leapt in front of Pudding at the command and threw my rope to entangle Akasaka in it. "Okay… good," the man panted from the ground. "Make him release me, and that should be enough."

I summoned the rope back, and a few seconds later my mind cleared. I blinked as I finally comprehended what had happened. Great! They could turn me into a zombie at will? I really didn't need that.

"Akasaka-san, Shirogane-san, can Tar-tar stay at home with me?" Pudding asked sweetly. That annoying girl! She was so respectful, that there was no way the two men could refuse. I think I'd rather have my head stuck in a blender. Well… maybe not, but there was no way I wanted to stay with Pudding!

"Well…" Ryou seemed reluctant.

"Certainly Pudding. The café doesn't really have accommodations for another resident," Akasaka answered calmly, apparently not holding the same unwillingness as Ryou.

"Arigatou Gozaimasu Akasaka-san!" Yeah. That's what I was thinking to. Thanks a _lot _Mr. Girly-guy.

Pudding seized my hand—and what is it with me and blushing today? —and began to drag me to the door, skipping and singing 'Promiscuous' the entire way. The kid obviously had no idea what the lyrics meant—although I doubt I would if I didn't hang out with pervs like Kish.

The only reason I didn't teleport away is… well… to be honest, I couldn't concentrate, and teleportation takes a lot of concentration. I was acutely aware of Pudding's very warm hand clutching mine, and her gorgeous voice singing that song I hated, squeaking randomly. Her golden hair—which come to think of it should have looked weird on a Chinese girl—bounced up and down with each step she took, flopping in her eyes. I had a weird urge to brush it away from her face—of course, that would be hard while moving. And why would I want to be anywhere near her face? Maybe I wanted to slap her in the process… yeah. That was it.

"Let's stop by the park Tar-tar!" the sugar high enemy of mine suggested. Well, suggested… maybe that's not the word. Without waiting for my consent, she turned to the left and took off power skipping to the nearest park bench.

"Sit Taru-taru!" The yellow bundle of energy sat down and yanked my hand, causing me to jolt and fall down onto the bench. I pushed myself as upright as I could, and finally admitted defeat. My attempts to pull away were going nowhere, so I gave up and simply scowled menacingly at all the passer-bys.

"You're being really quiet Taru-taru. Is something wrong?"

I stared at my captor as though she was an insane alien or something of the sort. Well, technically, she was. Not only that, but how dense could you get? Had she completely forgotten that _I had been kidnapped?_ "I'll let you think about that," I grumped, scowling and attempting to cross my arms. This didn't work, because she was still holding my hand, and I ended up tucking her hand under my arm. Ew. This pulled her towards me a little more, and I couldn't help but notice that she was sitting really, really close now. _Really_, really close. I could feel her breath on my neck as she gave me a concerned look. My face flushed—again. I swear, if there is a god out there somewhere, I'm going to have some choice words with him about blushing. And some choice blows. Heh.

Her face was really close to mine too, I noticed out of the corner of my eye. It was… weird. I felt nervous and uncomfortable, but strangely happy. Secure. Secure, in the clutches of my enemies, now that's a joke. Still…

I started to lean forward, then caught myself. What was I doing? Like I wanted to be anywhere near her! I leaned back again nonchalantly, feeling slightly disappointed with myself. Why? Must be because of the stupidity of leaning into her. Ugh. I hoped no one had noticed anything—especially not her.

I guess she did though. A few minutes later, when she _finally _decided we could go 'home', I heard her whisper to herself "I thought he was going to kiss me for a minute back there."

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**Whee! Sorry that took me so long, I've been doing more reading than writing these days… meh. I'm sorry. Well, I hope I haven't lost my readers!**

**Ok, if anyone has any idea how a ten-year-old boy thinks, please give me tips. I **_**think **_**I'm doing ok, but since I was never a ten-year-old boy I don't know. Well, I hope you liked the fluff at the end of the chapter… of course, you must leave a review and tell me! –hint hint- XD**


	5. Suspense!

Ah! Gomen gomen gomen gomen nasai!!! I've been, well… too lazy to update. Heheheheh… and grounded. I at least have that! So, really, it's only been about a week that I've been putting off updating… forgive me?

**Disclaimer: Yeah. I own Tokyo Mew Mew. At 14, I am an awesome manga artist. I'm also secretly Japanese—and I'm only pretending to struggle learning kanji. I also don't know the meaning of the word 'sarcasm'.**

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"I thought he was going to kiss me for a minute back there."

Huh? _Had _I been about to kiss her? Even I wasn't sure—ah what am I saying, of _course _I wouldn't kiss her! I'll leave kissing the enemy to idiots like Kish, thanks! Ew, why would I kiss an evil little human? Humanity was evil. EVIL! No way would I _ever _kiss a human! That's gross! Besides, she'd probably break my ribs if I did. Egh. I don't know what I was doing, but I'll forfeit all my future growth spurts if I was about to kiss that… monkey girl!

_Focus Tart. Think. _I tried to think about something to complain about—I haven't lost _all _my dignity. I wasn't going to be some compliant captive. Ehm… "Why do I have to stay at your house?" I grumbled to Pudding. Oh God, that was a pathetic complaint! I'll bet Kish could do better! Okay, bad example, Kish is always complaining. Well, regardless… hm, even if my whining sucked, maybe it would annoy Pudding so much that she'd throw me out of her house.

Right. That would work. This was _Pudding the dense and tolerant _we were talking about! It'd be as effective as scaring her when she was trapped under the dome. I still didn't know why that hadn't worked…

Pudding seemed to be thinking about my question. After a few minutes, she came up with the answer. "Because we're friends!" she cried gleefully. "We're friends, and friends look out for each other Tar-tar na no da!" The girl skipped up the steps to an old, Chinese style house, unlocked the door, and pushed it open. "Honcha Ruucha Chincha Hanacha Heicha I'm home!"

"Onee-san!"

"Onee-chan!"

"Yay! Pudding's home!"

"Onee-sama!"

"Ane, ane, ane!"

Oh. My. God. Spare. Me. Five personality copies of Pudding stampeded down the hall to leap on her and bowl her over—a nearly impossible feat. "Onee-chan's home!" cried one of four identical twin boys.

"And she brought a friend! Konban-wa Pudding's-friend-chan!" the only girl cried, hugging me with great strength and pressure to my ribs, which were as high as she could reach. "Are you ane's boyfriend? Why are your ears so big? Why do you dress like a girl? Why—"

"Pudding, your siblings are even hyperer than you," I observed weakly, my heart sinking. How could I survive amongst all this crazy energy?

"Of course na no da! They're children," she explained in a businesslike voice. My nemesis got to her feet and managed to unlatch her sister from me. "Everyone, this is my friend Tar-tar—no Heicha, he's not my boyfriend, even though he's so adorable and I wish he was!" My ears went red at her words. _What?_ "He's going to set the table while I make dinner."

"I am?" That was news to me. Somehow though, I doubted Pudding would let a refusal slide. Therefore, I grudgingly got to my feet and set the table at Pudding's instructions, muttering mutinously the whole time. Who said this girl was my keeper anyway? "Foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach of a half-monkey," I muttered about the little blond slave driver standing in the kitchen with a whip driving me on… fine, standing in the kitchen innocently making dinner. Same thing!

"Cheer up Taru-taru!" Pudding called from the kitchen, sensing my thoughts of woe. Humph. I think I'm allowed to feel sorry for myself! I've been forced into slavery, pretty much! I should sue! How do you go about suing anyways?

"Everyone, dinner!" I followed the press of insane children into the dining room and sat down. I winced as cries of 'Itadakimasu!' reverberated around the room at unbelievable dynamics. I got the feeling that I'd have a headache soon at this rate.

"Taruto, eat your ramen!" I looked up, startled—only Pai and Deep Blue Sama ever call me Taruto, really. I realized I'd been staring into space, and hastily picked up my chopsticks, before wondering how I was going to eat soup with chopsticks. Everyone else was managing it—practice, I guess. I'd never even used chopsticks. I ignored the ramen and began to eat my corn—still no success. I'd never used chopsticks before though. Ever.

"May I be excused?" I asked abruptly, annoyed. I pushed myself to my feet without waiting for an answer and stalked outside. Stupid chopsticks! Besides, who'd have an appetite when they're in the clutches of their worst enemy? And if your friends have orders to kill you on top of that… yeah, I'd like to see _you _be hungry.

I looked morosely towards the sky. Land was up there, orbiting around the star that humans called Vega. We call it 'The Sun,' same as this star. Both are the sun to us, since we're technically from both planets. Earth was our true home. How could the humans destroy it? How could we let them? It was suicide for us to let humanity survive!

The shifting noises should have warned me on the windless night, but I was stupid and inattentive. Therefore, I was shocked when a hand was placed on my shoulder. I looked around and jumped. "Oh no," I whispered, fearful. It was Kish.

"Sh! I'm not going to kill you," Kish whispered back. I opened my mouth to yell for help, and he covered it quickly. "Hey, listen—ow! Don't bite me, _Naruto!_"

I stood rigidly as Kish dropped his hand and wiped it off on his shorts. "What do you want?" I snapped. "And don't call me Naruto, Baka-san!"

"I thought it's get your attention," Kish explained. "Look, I just want to tell you, I'm working on an antidote for this thing. I'm not exactly Pai, but I think I'll be able to separate Lettuce's DNA from yours."

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**Ah, how's that for a nice, cliché ending to the chapter? Hm, now I want you to raise your hands… who here thinks Kish is lying? –counts hands- Thank you… Who thinks he is telling the truth? –counts hands again- My thanks. You'll see eventually! Or will you?**


	6. Introduction

Disclaimer: Hm… Tokyo Mew Mew came out in the 90's, right? I was BORN in the 90's. But I'm sure my art skills and life knowledge was so developed by age 7 or so that I could've written TMM! –cough cough-

**Translation: I don't own TMM. Would my TMM AMVs have gotten deleted for copyright infringement if I did? Well, maybe—they could have been deleted for the music I used. In any case, I am not Mia Ikumi or anyone else associated with TMM.**

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"Look, I just want to tell you, I'm working on an antidote for this thing. I'm not exactly Pai, but I think I'll be able to separate Lettuce's DNA from yours."

I blinked. "An… antidote? You can do that?" I asked my friend.

"Yeah. It'll probably take a while though, like I said, I'm not Pai," Kish answered, twisting nervously in the air. "Listen—I have to go, I don't want Pai to go looking for me. He's trying to find you right now, but the computer crashed, so…" Kish's voice trailed off. I don't think he really knew what to say. "I'll come back when I have the antidote, okay?"

"Yeah," I acknowledged, slumping onto the porch bench and resting my chin on my palm. This sucked.

The door slid open behind me, and my ears picked up soft footsteps. "Taru-taru?" Pudding's voice called out softly. "Why did you get scared when you saw Kish? You're friends, aren't you?"

"Yeah," I sighed. "But Kish and Pai have to kill me now, because you guys can control me. I'm a danger to the mission." I stared morosely into space, a gloomy fog settling around my mind. I really was in danger of being killed by my best friends. I really should let them find me. What was my life against the lives of my friends and family? Right now, my mere existence was preventing them from getting out of the squalor of our current lives.

Pudding looked troubled. "But… but wouldn't they want to help you, not kill you?" the monkey girl asked.

I almost laughed; she sure was naive! "Of course they want to help me! But…" I hesitated. I shouldn't reveal the existence of Deep Blue to her. "Well, they _can't _help me. I'm…" I didn't know what to say, so I cut myself off there.

Pudding sat down next to me and put an arm around my shoulders. I flinched, but ignored it, because she was saying something. "Don't worry Tart! We'll protect you, because you're on our side now!"

"I am, huh?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. I was not on her side! I detested humans and all that they stood for! Pollution, gluttony, waste, ignorance, apathy, mediocrity, and so many other words could sum up the human race! They were fools, total fools! Pudding was insane to think that I would ever, _ever _side with them!

"Of course you're on our side!" Pudding cried. "See, it'll be fun if you're on our side, because we don't want to kill you, and then we can play together! And you won't be trying to kill everyone!"

Yes, I would be trying to kill everyone, to kill everyone that _mattered!_ Selfish humans deserve to be exterminated! The inferior give way to the superior, and we were by anyone's definition the superior race. I couldn't believe she had the audacity to think that this would be fun. Who was this kid to judge my side, and what would be fun? I scowled at her angrily.

Pudding didn't seem to notice. She leapt to her feet, and jerked me up as well. "Well Tar-tar, come inside, and we can all get properly introduced! We'll play soccer ball introductions! Or whatever that's called na no da!"

"Huh?" I asked, nonplussed. Pudding, rather than explaining, proceeded to drag me off and into the house. When would the dragging end? It wasn't like I couldn't walk—or fly, for that matter—on my own!

"Do you have to _drag_ me everywhere?" I inquired sulkily.

"Of course Taru-taru! Honcha Ruucha Chincha Hanacha Heicha come here so we can get introduced na no da!" Pudding called in one gigantic, continuous sentence, with no pause for air. She seized a black and white ball of some sort, and pushed me to sit on the floor, while she sat next to me.

The stampede noise came from the five children who dashed into the room. "Me first—"

"No, me first!"

"Youngest first!"

"Oldest first!"

"Smartest first!"

"That'd be me!"

"ONEESAN HANACHA PUSHED ME!"

"Yeah, but I'm still going first—"

"SIT!" screamed Pudding. The five children immediately fell into place in the circle. "Okay!" the sugar high girl called, tossing the ball to a random person in the lovely, sinister, seven-person circle of unknown rituals.

I was sure the ball would hit the boy in the face, but he caught it easily. "My name is Chincha Fong. I'm six years old, and I'm a quadruplet. I like pranks, martial arts, dogs, swimming, and cross-country running, and I'm the middle child." The ball was hurled in the direction of the little girl who sat in between Chincha and another boy.

"I'm Heicha Fong. I'm five years old, and I'm not a quadruplet, because I'm too little! I like pranks, martial arts, dolls, wild animals, ice skating, and candy! I'm the youngest." The girl gave an endearing smile, and with great ferocity the ball was hurled into the lap of the boy across from Heicha.

"I'm Honcha Fong. I'm six years old and I'm a quadruplet. I like pranks, martial arts, horses, horseback riding, and computer games. I'm the second quadruplet." The ball must have appeared in one of the other boy's laps when I blinked, because it didn't get there by itself—I think.

"I'm Ruucha Fong. I'm six years old, and I'm the oldest except for Pudding Oneesama. I'm a quadruplet. I like pranks, martial arts, reptiles, school, really loud music, soccer, and I'm also really mature for my age." With lightning speed, the ball zoomed towards the last quadruplet.

"I'm Hanacha Fong. I'm a quadruplet. I'm six. I like pranks, martial arts, drawing, cats, reading, and watching fights at school. Those are funny. Um… well, I'm the youngest quadruplet." There was a blur of black-and-white, and the ball landed in Pudding's outstretched hands.

"I'm Purin Fong, but since I hate the name Purin, I go by Pudding." I started—I hadn't known that Pudding was just a nickname! "I'm ten years old. I like pranks, martial arts, performing, getting tips, monkeys, my job, my friends, yellow, orange, and blue, and I LOVE TARU-TARU NA NO DA!" She broke off to hug me—is 'glomp' the right word? I think that's what they call a hug that breaks your ribs, the way Pudding's nearly did. "Well, I'm the oldest, except for Dad, but he's in China!"

Lightning speed. I threw my hands up to protect my face, and instinctively gripped the surprisingly light object. I had caught it!

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**There's actually more to this chapter… but it's really long. So, I'm going to save Tart's introduction for another time, ok? I know this was a bit of a filler, maybe I'll be able to update again today or tomorrow though!**


	7. Toothbrush

Disclaimer: I don't own TMM. If I did, I NEVER would have given the rights to 4kidz. EVER. That's utterly a pointless disclaimer, I know, I know, but I keep watching English and Japanese comparisons on Youtube… Save me from Kish's poor, sad, not-awesomely-creepy-but-even-nerdier-than-I-am English voice!

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Lightning speed. I threw my hands up to protect my face, and instinctively gripped the surprisingly light object. I had caught it!

Everyone was looking at me expectantly. I guessed I was now supposed to introduce myself. "Ehm… My name is Taruto Kuromizu. Anyone who calls me Taruto will be killed. Painfully. You may call me Tart." I hoped that would be good enough, but they were still staring at me, expecting me to go on. I growled, annoyed; why did it matter what these people knew about me? Either Kish would save me or Pai would kill me soon enough, and it would be no good to anyone! That didn't stop the eyes. The staring was making me uncomfortable, so I decided to go on.

"I'm ten years old. I'm not human."

"What are you then?" one of the quadruplets asked. I think it was Hanacha? Maybe?

"I'm a cyniclon. You haven't heard of us." It was all I could do to keep from snapping at him, but who knew what the kid would do? If he liked martial arts, then maybe he'd have jumped me. I'm not saying I can't beat a little kid, but I don't want to have to. I'm always scared I'll hurt people littler than me. The one time I told Kish that, he acted shocked that there were people littler than me, and I had to post the contents of his diary on a blog I hacked into.

"Uh… I like… uh… yelling at Kish, um, wildlife… plants! Plants are good. Um… saving my people, P—pop-tarts. Yeah." Now why had I almost said 'Pudding'? I must have meant the food pudding.

"You have a friend named Quiche?" Chincha—I think it was Chincha—snickered.

I glared the kid into silence. "Kisshu. He goes by 'Kish', because the name Kisshu's almost as bad as the name 'Taruto.'"

"Hey! I just realized! Taruto sounds like Naruto! Can we call you Naruto?" I give up trying to keep the quadruplets straight!

"NO!" Okay, I actually wished that stupid twerp who thinks he can be a stealthy ninja while wearing bright orange was real at that time. I felt a great urge to kill him.

"Hey, does Pai have another name?" Pudding asked me curiously.

"No. We called him 'Fly Pai' and 'Big P' for a little while, but then he threatened to hang us from the ceiling from our ears. Although Kish has been calling him Fly Pai again sometimes, recently, so he'll probably be threatened again." My throat seized up. God, who'd have thought that I'd miss those two? Especially Kish!

Pudding nodded, and then stood abruptly, startling me. "Honcha Ruucha Chincha Hanacha Heicha! Time for bed na no da!"

Obediently all the children stood up and ran for the bathroom. Pudding seized my hand—again. Can she never just tell me where she needs me to go?

Apparently not. "Tar-tar, you need to help Heicha brush her teeth while I get all their pajamas out! She hates to brush her teeth, so you need to watch her," Pudding explained as she pulled me to the bathroom.

"What? I can't I—" I protested.

"You can, unless you want to help them all get dressed!" Pudding told me sternly.

"Uh… right then. Help Heicha brush her teeth." It couldn't be too hard to keep an eye on some snot nosed kid, right? Actually, take it back. These kids were related to Pudding. I couldn't underestimate them.

I poked my head into the bathroom. "Uh… Heicha, right? Uh, Pudding said I need to help you brush your teeth."

"But I don't like to! Don't make me Tart-chan!" the girl wailed.

Well, I could have left it at that! But… Pudding wouldn't let that happen. Greeeeeat. "Holy Pale Green, save me," I muttered, a joke between Kish and me. Pai always treated Deep Blue as a God; therefore we said that because the Greek Gods were all sex fiends, Deep Blue needed a girlfriend. Pai didn't speak to us for a week, and still gets mad when we mention 'Pale Green.' It made me feel better to make that little reference.

I looked the little runt I was supposed to be helping directly in the eye. I had to look down to meet her eyes—a nice change. Although I'm not _that _short! "Get. Your. Toothbrush," I growled angrily.

The girl glared at me and opened the mirrored medicine cabinet, pulling out a pink toothbrush with some plastic, stupid, smiling, animated pig in an ugly magenta leotard on the end. It was the most hideous toothbrush I'd ever seen. What was it with humans putting cartoon characters on everything their children use?

I took the toothbrush from the scowling girl and slathered on what I hoped was the right amount of pink, bubble-gum flavored toothpaste. Pink. There had been too much pink in my day. I don't like pink! It reminds me of the hag! Personally I like red, although yellow is pretty awesome too.

I looked around, and saw that the bathroom was suddenly, mysteriously deserted. "Oh no you didn't," I muttered. Although I'd rarely attempted this advanced form of teleportation, I drew up a picture of Heicha in my mind, fixed it there, focused, and teleported.

The air around me shivered and I found myself under the bathroom sink. Five pairs of eyes stared at me in shock, because humans aren't bright enough to understand that some people have more advanced abilities than them and can't be stopped by doors and walls. "All right, all of you, get out!" I shouted, opening the door. Five stunned kids tumbled out and stared blankly at me.

I climbed out of the sink cabinet angrily and advanced on the youngest Fong, brandishing the toothbrush. "All right Heicha, are you going to brush your teeth or do I have to brush them for you?" I asked dangerously. I hoped she'd choose to do it herself; I didn't want her to bite me, or anything.

The five year old threw me a vehement glare and took the toothbrush. For seven minutes straight I didn't let her spit the toothpaste—I used to do the same thing when I was little, to tell you the truth. I knew it was a pretty effective punishment, and I doubted that the kids would try to walk all over me again.

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**Raise your hand if you agree with Tart.**


	8. Waiter

Disclaimer: I am dead. Really. And the dead own nothing. Not even the rights to Tokyo Mew Mew. Because they were never owned by me. And they never will be. Because I am dead. Yes, that is why I haven't updated in a while.

…Fine, I haven't updated our of sheer laziness. Forgive?

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Being a waiter is exhausting. And stupid. I felt really stupid running around in long pants, suspenders, and a long shirt with sleeves. Look, it's just not the way we dress on my planet, okay? I mean, cloth takes resources! We just don't have them! So, I felt incredibly awkward in the Café Mew Mew male uniform. However, it's not like I had a choice but to be a waiter when that Ryou person ordered me to, since he had the ability to control my every movement! God, but suspenders just… suck.

Tiring. I mentioned being a waiter is exhausting, right? I was required to write everything in English or Japanese so that Akasaka could understand what I was saying. Cerealion is much easier to write, trust me. Much easier.

To sum it up, the entire experience sucked. It was a long, boring day, and I was forced to spend it working for the enemy. Needless to say, when Ryou banished me out to take orders from a customer, I was slightly sarcastic. "Welcome-to-Café-Mew-Mew-Well-Can-I-Take-Your-Order-Or-Do-You-Need-More-Time?" I asked very quickly, trying to refrain from rolling my eyes in sheer annoyance.

My blood ran cold as the customer slowly lowered his menu. "Hello, Taruto," Pai greeted me calmly. "Fancy seeing you here."

"P-pai," I whispered, backing away, panic beginning to blossom in my veins. "Please… please don't kill me," I pleaded numbly, even though I knew it was hopeless. Pai would never disobey a direct order from Deep Blue.

"Taruto," Pai sighed, his voice regretful. "You know it's not that I want to kill you, right? However, orders are orders, and right now, you're a danger to our people. Yes, I know, it's not you fault," he hastily cut me off as I opened my mouth, trying to talk my way out of imminent doom. "But if you can't control yourself, we have to take you out of the equation. It's for everyone's good, including your own. When we take this planet, you'll be executed for treason, regardless. This way is better." I saw pain and misery in Pai's eyes, something that I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't know him so well. "It will be quick and painless, I swear," he added, as though that was supposed to comfort me. So comforting! Especially as he removed a knife from his inner shirt pocket—presumably to spare me the humiliation of being 'Kuu Rai Sen'd' to death. But still—

"Tar-tar-san!" A blur of orange energy slammed me to the right, and Pai's knife cut into nothingness. I stumbled, and hit the stupid, pink tiled floor hard on my side and rolled, acutely aware of the sudden silence and the shocked stares of the customers.

Pai cursed in our language—no, I'm not translating it!—and flew up. "Give it up," he ordered, glaring at Pudding. He knew she couldn't transform in front of everyone, and I wasn't going to attack him. He knew it. Why must Pai be intelligent?

"FIRE IN THE KITCHEN!" I'd heard that yelling fire will get people to run outside to watch it or get away from it, but I'd never seen the theory put into practice. I'd thought it was just another thing Kish made up to try and sound more knowledgeable than he is when trying to tell me how to not get raped. You know, only Kish would try and tell people my age that, I swear. Well, anyways, it worked. Everyone in the café—well, the customers—fled the scene, leaving the mews free to transform.

"Mew mew Strawberry metamorphosis!"

"Mew mew Zakuro metamorphosis!"

"Mew mew Lettuce metamorphosis!"

"Mew mew Mint metamorphosis!"

"Mew mew Pu—"

"Kuu Rai Sen!" Before Pudding's transformation could be completed, Pai's attack of wind hit her hard. I screamed, but somehow I doubt anyone heard me in the commotion as the active girl fell to the ground, unconscious..

Something must have possessed me, because it wasn't the same feeling as being controlled. I seized my Ho Rai Den rope from it's place in the other dimension. "Ho Rai Kyuu!" I cried, flinging electricity at Pai. Wasn't there some syndrome that caused kidnappers and kidnappees to bond? I guess I had it—I couldn't bear if Pudding was slaughtered while she was down!

"FUSION!" Out of nowhere appeared Kish, several chimera animals at his back. "Thought you might need help, Pai," he called, grinning at the new chimera. "This will be by far the most powerful!"

My stomach churned as I saw the newest chimera, a giant, orange, monkey chimera. I looked down at Pudding's unconscious body, lying helplessly on the floor, her skin the tell-tale purplish shade of a person who had had their spirit stolen. Kish had taken Pudding's spirit while she was helpless and had made a chimera animal out of it! Wasn't Kish supposed to be helping me? Maybe this would help. Maybe it would, because if the most powerful chimera killed all the mews, Pudding would be the only one left—easy prey. If the mews killed the chimera, Pudding could die—it was never a guarantee that the spirit would be unharmed—indeed, the purer the spirit, the greater the chance of it being killed in the process of unbinding with the parasite. Either way, at least one mew would die. Maybe it was to help me—but Kish had taken Pudding's soul. Am I making sense? None of it was making sense to me at the time. All I knew was I felt an uncontrollable rage come over me. They had taken Pudding's spirit to make into a chimera… they had taken her spirit…

"HO RAI DEN!" I screamed, launching the power in my rope at Kish, who seemed shocked and was barely able to dodge. Let him think I was being controlled, let the mews think I had willingly changed sides. I didn't care. This wasn't for them. This was because Kish had harmed Pudding, who I had come to care for more than anyone on any planet.


	9. Death

Disclaimer: I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew, and I never will unless I meet Mia Ikumi someday and she sees how dedicated I am—not just another rambling, psycho fan,--and therefore signs me the rights. Capiche? Good.

Ah, so this is the last chapter! It was originally two, but to be honest they were short, so I decided on one uber-long chapter. I'm quite excited—my first multi-chapter story finished! My other finished stories are all one-shots… but to be honest, I'll miss this one. It's very dear to me. Sorry that there was no warning that this would be the last… It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. I think it was a good one…

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This was because Kish had harmed Pudding, who I had come to care for more than anyone else on the planet.

I threw myself into the frenzy, screaming in anger as I launched myself at Kish, at Pai, at Pudding's lifeless body. "HO RAI KYUU!" I cried again, my voice rising in pitch to an octave that rivaled one of Pudding's own. "PUDDING!" No one seemed to hear, and no one stopped me as I launched myself at the chimera animal.

Now came the tricky part. I had never worked with animal form parasites—I was much more for plants. There was no choice, however, but to attempt what I never had before. I summoned my will to call Pudding's soul away from the chimera animal.

The parasite, a creature native to our adopted world, cannot function without a soul inside it. While in nature it will latch onto it's prey and actually live as a symbiotic helper, we use a reaction that makes it malicious, that causes it to damage the soul rather than strengthen it. The purity of Pudding's soul attracted the parasite very much, and with its primitive brain, it seemed to protest that it did not _want _to let go. I could always talk reasonably with the plants about such things, but animals, especially humans? The process of freeing the soul was long difficult.

"Tart, attack them!" My concentration was jarred as the signals pulsed through my nervous system. I felt the dreamlike trance settle over me as my own blood attempted to move my arms, as the human blood cells amongst my own attempted to obey their commands. No. No. I wouldn't obey. Pudding's life was in danger here. My concentration was jarred, and I could feel the blood straining in my veins. My blood, corrupted by Lettuce's blood, wanted to listen. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to focus. This was for Pudding. I eased the soul away from the parasite and collapsed from the effort of fighting my own blood. I couldn't keep an eye on Pudding's soul any longer. I would have to simply pray that it would find her body and she would live.

As soon as I relaxed, my body rose of it's own accord. My mind was surprisingly clear, as though fighting my own blood had cleared it. I didn't care about holding off the commands, and let the orders from the humans run through my body, no longer cared as I lunged forward and attacked my friends. How could I even continue to consider them my friends? They had hurt Pudding.

"TAR-TAR!" I spun around, and saw Pudding rise and run over to me, staring in horror. I caught a glimpse of my face in one of the overly shined tiles of the floor, and made out my reddened eyes, red as the blood cells had burst from the effort of disobeying my life force. "Tar-tar, are you hurt? Your eyes!"

"Look out!" I yelled as Pai flew at her. I leapt in front of Pudding, and screamed as I felt the blast of air from his Kuu Rai Sen fan. It was painful, as though grains of sand were caught in the whirling air, and I felt it tear through my thin, insubstantial human shirt, whipping my back as I fell to my knees, protecting Pudding with my body. "Pai, stop! I'll go with you!" I yelled as the air flew around me, hitting Pudding. "I'll go Pai! I don't care if you kill me, don't hurt her!" How strange it was, to say that. How strange it was to be willing to sacrifice my life for Pudding, something I had been unable to do for my entire species. I knew that it was irrational, for a weak, inferior being to mean so much. Why was I willing to die for her? Shouldn't I go with Pai with no regrets to save _my _people, not a single, insignificant human?

But she was significant to me… The power of the Kuu Rai Sen winds could kill her, and I would never let that happen.

"Tar-tar?" Pudding gasped, seizing my hand. "What are you doing? Don't get yourself killed, Tarutooo!" A tear leaked out of one of her eyes, and I felt the crazy urge to brush it away. Since I had made it very clear that I was a traitor, I surrendered to the wish, and then stood up. Pai had stopped his attack, and was looking at me oddly.

"Aren't they," I began, gesturing to the mews, even to those two men who had controlled me so painfully, "people too?" I looked back at Pudding, and gave her a sad, half-smile. People say it's noble to die to save someone that you love, but they never mention how hard that said person you love will cry. No one ever talks about them looking stunned, in shock, no one ever mentions the regret that flows from their face, and no one ever mentions you wondering if you're doing the right thing after all, by condemning the person you love to grief. Nevertheless, what else could I do? I refused to let any tears fall from my face as I started towards Pai.

"Ribbon Pudding Ring Inferno!" I felt a huge Pudding Ring close around me, and realized to my shock that I could no longer move. I watched in horror as Pudding leapt at Pai, as the blue girl, Mint, shot her arrow at Pai. Pai was thrown backwards by the force of the waves of the arrow, rolling out of her bow, throwing my friend, my nemesis, a loyal member of my race, the race I myself had abandoned, into a wall. I watched Pai rise and hurl Pudding backwards with a gust of wind, watched helplessly, unable to move.

The tip of one of Kish's Dragon Swords plunged into the Pudding Ring, deflating it, freeing me. I looked up at my friend. "I'll go with you, I swear, if you leave Pudding alone," I begged, staring into Kish's eyes, pleading that he would understand. The flash of pity in his eyes let me know that he did; didn't he himself feel the same way about Ichigo? Wouldn't he die for her?

Kish placed a hand on my shoulder. "Pai! Let's move out! We're here for Tart, not to kill everyone else. We can do that later!"

Pai looked up, his face resigned as he teleported to avoid a blast from the strawberry surprise, which narrowly missed the purple wolf girl—Zakuro? —'s ear. "You're right," he said, teleporting. Kish took hold of my unresisting arm.

"TAR-TAR!" The last thing my keen ears comprehended as I faded from existence was Pudding's keening scream of grief.

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I followed Kish and Pai into a room, one of the labs, followed them to a large, opaque tube. I looked at a row of vials with a pang—a science genius I was not, but I could tell that they were Kish's antidotes, the tests of the one he'd been trying to create to save me. If only he could have finished it, then this wouldn't be happening. I would have lived to see my eleventh birthday.

I fought back my own terror as I lay down in the tube, trying to force myself to accept my fate. How hard it was not to scream as the top slid shut over my face. How hard it was not to claw and pound at the insides of the death machine as I heard Pai turn it on. But oh, how hard it was to resist that smell, that smell of flowers that lulled me to sleep, that made it hard to think, hard to breathe.

Maybe it was all a dream. But even if it wasn't, maybe I could fall into one last dream, a dream about Pudding. I could feel the blood pounding slowly through my veins as my heart slowed down, before I latched onto that ultimate thought and fell into my final, never-ending dream.

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**How many people want to kill me for ending it that way? I don't blame you at all if you do. Tart! Please don't die! Oh wait, it's **_**my**_** fault… What have I DONE?**

**Well, I'm anxious to hear your opinions! The review button keeps me alive… don't starve me to death by depriving me of the reviews that I live off of.**


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